Prof. David Krizaj, PhD.
•2014 – present Professor of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences; Dept. of Ophthalmology &Visual Sciences, Univ. of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT
•2024–present Tuck Presidential Endowed Chair in Ophthalmology
Title: “Mechanobiology of the eye: from cellulartransduction to ocular disease”
Date: November 06th, 2024 (Wednesday) 3:00-5:00pm/ 2024年11月06日(三) 下午 3:00-5:00
Place: Biomedical Building 7F, Classroom 9702/ SH Campus 雙和校區生醫大樓7F 9702教室
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Abstract of the speech
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The eye is a pressurized, biomechanically active environment in which every cell continually experiences fluctuations in intraocular pressure (IOP). Excessive mechanical stress causes debilitating blinding diseases such as glaucoma yet little is known about how ocular cells sense pressure or how dysregulation of pressure sensing might lead to pathology. We found that cells that control IOP (trabecular meshwork cells) and cells that are selectively injured by IOP elevations (retinal ganglion cells, RGCs) express mechanosensitive ion channels that mediate acute and chronic changes in the mechanical environment.
The presentation will discuss the expression of Piezo, TRPV4 and TREK-1 channels in the trabecular meshwork and the retina, their role in intracellular signaling and gene expression, and elaborate on visual phenotypes that occur following conditional and global ablation of these channels from the eye. Moreover, it will discuss pharmacological interventions and strategies that protect vision from glaucoma through targeting mechanosensitive channels.
The take home point will be that mechanosensation and mechanotransduction play critical functions without which vision cannot be properly understood.
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